Historians have long puzzled over how the ancient Egyptians

built the pyramids.

Even just figuring out how they lifted and moved

the immense granite blocks, some of which

weighed dozens of tons, has proven extremely difficult.

The tale emerging is one of a culture

with great skill, ingenuity, and determination

to leave a mark on the world.

Today we're going to take a look at how the ancient Egyptians

built the pyramids.

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All right, here's one to build on.

The pyramids of Giza were constructed

over 4,000 years ago.

So it's natural to assume the passage of time

is why the methods behind the construction

remain so mysterious.

While that's partially true, scholars now

believe that it's also likely the ancient Egyptians

deliberately tried to conceal those methods.

Egyptologist Kara Cooney points out that, as much as anything

else, the pyramids were works of propaganda.

Part of their purpose was to prove

the other-worldly and godlike nature of their kings.

The sense that these structures were

impossible for mere mortals or other rulers to build

was a key part of that illusion.

So concealing the secrets behind their construction

would have been paramount.

For many people, the first question

that pops to mind when contemplating

the construction of the pyramids is, how did they

move those giant stones?

The answer begins right in the quarries

where the granite was taken from.

The quarries were filled with natural obelisks of rock.

Workers would identify one of these obelisks

and then remove the ground around it.

The process began by chipping away

at the weathered upper layers of the rock.

Then they would dig deep trenches

around the obelisk to free it from the rest of the ground.

Next, the workers would clear a path to one side

so that the cut stone could be pushed out horizontally,

as opposed to being lifted out vertically.

We know this is how they really did it because archaeologists

have uncovered a single unfinished obelisk which,

for unknown reasons, was abandoned midway

through the process of extraction.

Even in modern times, quarry and granite

and cutting it into a usable shape

for construction is extremely difficult.

This has led many to wonder how the ancient Egyptians were

able to accomplish the task with such precision.

While there is still much to be learned,

one theory has some compelling physical evidence backing it

up.

Egyptologists believe the ancients

used a very clever method which involves punching holes

in the rock with an iron chisel and then stuffing

those holes with wooden wedges.

The wedges would be drenched with water,

which would cause them to expand until they

split the rock itself.

Then the workers would chisel those fissures

until the stone was in the shape of a block.

As previously mentioned, the ancient Egyptians

made every effort to keep the methods behind pyramid

construction a secret.

However, some evidence and documentation

has survived, including the papyrus diary

of a worker named Merer.

Merer's diary, along with other sources,

hint at a culture with a deep and meaningful understanding

of physics.

This knowledge allowed the Egyptians

to create planes, wedges, pulleys, and levers--

different kinds of simple machines.

Construction of the pyramids was enabled by the ability

to employ these simple machines on a massive scale

with incredible creativity and ingenuity.

Once the massive obelisks were cut from the ground,

the workers faced an even bigger challenge,

getting the blocks out of the quarry.

Scholars have long wondered how the ancients were

able to lift these blocks, which could weigh dozens of tons,

without the use of advanced machinery.

Recent archaeological discoveries

at an alabaster quarry in eastern Egypt

suggest that the workers used a simple, but ingenious ramp

and rope system to move the blocks.

It worked like this.

An upwards ramp was built with an adjacent staircase

on both sides.

Posts would be set at the holes dug into the staircase

at regular intervals.

The block would then be placed on a flat sled.

Finally, the workers would attach ropes to the block

and pull them over the poles using them as axles.

The net effect was to cause the block to slide up the ramp.

While it is important to note that this evidence comes

from a quarry that was not used in the construction

of the pyramids, it's still likely

that the same methods and technologies were used.

Quarrying the blocks was extremely difficult

and lifting them out of the quarries, even more so.

But those challenges were nothing

compared to what came next, transporting the quarry

blocks across miles of desert to the construction site at Giza.

The task was daunting, but they figured out

a way to make it easy by using toboggans.

Yes, evidence shows that the ancient Egyptians

used rudimentary sledges to move the massive stones

across the sands.

These sledges were simple, flat surfaces with upturned edges

that could glide right over the dunes.

Well, almost.

The extreme weight of the block's

complicated the process by causing the sledges to dig

into the sand.

But once again, the ancients had a simple, but effective

solution to the problem, water.

Living in the desert, the Egyptians

had long known that wet sand was firmer and therefore,

able to carry a heavier load than dry sand.

That being the case, the workers likely

used water right out of the Nile River

to wet the path ahead of them.

This theory is based on a wall painting found in a tomb that

shows the process in action.

Previous scholars interpreted the water

pouring as ceremonial, but later researchers

suspected it might have had a more practical purpose.

The method, which was eventually tested by researchers

from the University of Amsterdam,

was found to be very effective.

The ability to drag granite blocks through the desert sands

was necessary, but labor intensive.

In order to help ease certain stretches of the journey,

the Egyptians probably installed fixed tracks in some areas.

Archaeologists have found evidence of these tracks

in several locations.

Like everything else the builders did, the method

was simple, but effective.

Round logs were laid down and used as rails for the granite

blocks to slide along.

Areas that required moving uphill

were likely traversed with help from the same rope

and pulley systems used in the quarries.

These sites have also yielded traces of oils and animal

fats, which scholars suspect were used as lubricants.

While heavier stones needed to be moved over land,

lighter blocks that were 15 tons or less

were often floated to their destination.

The papyrus diary of an Egyptian official involved

in the process refers to a series

of canals connected to the Nile that were used

for precisely this purpose.

The diary records that wooden boats latched together

with ropes would be used to ferry

the blocks from their quarry in Tura to the plateau at Giza.

While the designs of the canals were sophisticated enough

to include artificial ports for loading and unloading,

they only functioned during the summer

when the Nile was flooded.

Despite all of this information, there's

still so much we don't know about the construction

of the pyramids.

One of those things is the design

of the ramps that were used to pull granite

blocks from quarries and elevate the blocks into place once they

reached their final destination.

Scientists have suggested numerous possibilities

for the design of these ramps from the incredibly simple

to the surprisingly complex.

Each of those suggestions have pros and cons,

but in the absence of additional evidence turning up,

there is no current basis on which to determine once

and for all, which might be right.

Some of the best evidence we have about the ramp

construction comes to us very recently via modern technology.

A high tech scanning process known as muography

was used on the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The scan detected a mysterious deep gap in the pyramid

that some theorize is the remnant of a construction ramp

that was used to build the pyramid from the inside out.

Because the area is virtually inaccessible,

archaeologists have not yet been able to examine

it more closely.

Questions still remain about how some of these lighter stones

might have been moved when the Nile wasn't flooded

or for the construction of pyramids not located

near water.

Joseph West of Indiana State University has a guess.

West theorizes that if the Egyptians attached three rods

to each side of the blocks, 12 in total,

it would transform the block into a dodecagon that could

easily be rolled up the ramps.

He tested his theory with an experiment,

which showed that the method not only worked, but significantly

reduced the effort needed to move the large blocks around.

How significantly?

Enough so that a single person could push the block

a considerable distance.

However, while the concepts involved

were known to the Egyptians and their knowledge of physics

made it plausible they could have figured it out,

there is no direct evidence they used this method.

Going back to the days of the Bible in Herodotus,

it is believed that the pyramids were

built on the backs of hundreds of thousands of slave laborers.

Modern archaeologists, however, aren't so sure.

Evidence gathered from the tomb to the workers

suggest a fairly different scenario.

First, there were far fewer workers

than were previously believed.

Rather than number in the hundreds of thousands,

scholars now believe the number was closer to 10,000 or so.

Moreover, those workers were clearly

of a higher social status than that associated with slaves.

Combined with the evidence of the technology and ingenuity

used in the transportation of the materials and construction

itself, Egyptologists now believe the workers

who built the pyramids were highly

skilled creative artisans.

Are you impressed by the construction of the pyramids?

Let us guess, you still think aliens?

Oh, boy.

Let us know in the comments below.

And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos

from our Weird History.